DODGERS: Team in disarray, Torre knows to walk away

There was a time when Torre could get on the phone and order up
a new slugger or starting pitcher from Steinbrenner. With the
Dodgers he was forced to rely on whoever they could pick up on the
cheap, which is why Ted Lilly was starting for the team down the
stretch instead of someone like Roy Halladay or Cliff Lee.

The team's opening day payroll was down more than $36 million
from 2009, while court documents indicated the McCourts have taken
out more than $100 million in loans from Dodger-related businesses
to fund their lavish lifestyle.

Into all of this steps Don Mattingly, whose chief qualification
for the job seems to be that he has a recognizable name and will
work cheap. The Dodgers had a more seasoned candidate at
Albuquerque in Tim Wallach, but McCourt seems enamored with
celebrity and Donnie Baseball was the man he wanted.

Mattingly was at the helm in a game against the Giants in July
-- Torre had been ejected -- when he visited the mound in the ninth
inning with the Dodgers up 5-4. He left, but returned when James
Loney asked a question and was called for a second visit to the
mound.

That meant closer Jonathan Broxton had to be replaced and the
Dodgers went on to lose the game.

"It's going to be a learning process," third baseman Casey Blake
said. "I know one rule he knows now is to keep on walking once he
leaves the mound."

McCourt probably should have figured it out before he gave
Mattingly the job, but he turned to him Friday night at Dodger
Stadium and asked: "Are you ready?"

With the team in shambles and the McCourts headed back to court
on Monday to arm wrestle over whose team it really is, the better
question might have been this:

"Are you crazy?"

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Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated
Press. Write to him at tdahlberg(at)ap.org